Over Rs 1,000 crore has been invested in Indian space startups in the last nine months of the current financial year from April to December 2023, according to Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology.
“From just one startup in the space sector four years back, we have almost 190 private space startups after opening up of the sector and the earlier ones of them have now turned entrepreneurs,” Singh told in an interview at the Zee TV National Conclave on Sunday. Separately, he informed the Rajya Sabha last week that the number of space startups has gone up from just 1 in 2014 to 189 in 2023 as per DPIIT Start-Up India Portal while the investment in Indian space startups has increased to $ 124.7 million.
The government has announced the Indian Space Policy 2023 to enable end-to-end participation of Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs) in all the domains of space activities, said Singh highlighting space startups building their own satellites and constellations to contribute to applications in agriculture, disaster management, environmental monitoring, etc.
For instance, Skyroot Aerospace unveiled its commercial rocket Vikram 1 in October, Pixxel is deploying a constellation of Earth imaging satellites, Dhurva Space is building a 2.8 lakh sq ft facility in Hyderabad for assembly, integration of satellite infrastructure, Bellatrix Aerospace manufactures small satellites, and others.
Importantly, the government’s Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), which aims to promote space-related activities in India’s private sector, earlier this month had announced its Seed Fund scheme to back startups working in the urban development and disaster management segments using space technology.
The Indian space sector was worth $9.6 billion in 2020 with a share of 2-3 per cent in the global space market and was expected to grow to $13 billion by 2025 even as India aims for a nearly 10 per cent share in the global space economy by 2030, as per the government’s Invest India portal.